Most names that start with ‘J’ in other languages have Italian versions that start with ‘G’ instead. This results in many Italian names beginning with the letter ‘G’.
The following table shows examples of English names that begin with ‘J’ alongside the corresponding Italian names that begin with ‘G’.
| English Name |
Italian Name |
|---|---|
| John | Giovanni |
| Joseph | Giuseppe |
| Julia | Giulia |
| Julian | Giuliano |
| Justin | Giustino |
| Joanna | Giovanna |
| Judith | Giuditta |
| Juliet | Giulietta |
| Jessica | Gessica |
The letter ‘J’ is not really used in Italian (aside from in a few loanwords). In fact, the letter ‘J’ doesn’t appear in any of the thousand most common Italian words.
The rarity of the letter ‘J’ in Italian mirrors its rarity in Latin, the language from which Italian evolved. The classical Latin alphabet did not include the letter ‘J’; it was only much later, during the Middle Ages, that this letter was added to Latin.
In Italian the letter ‘G’ can have either a hard sound (when followed by the letters ‘a’, ‘u’, and ‘o’) or a soft sound, like a ‘J’, when followed by the letters ‘i’ or ‘e’.
The majority of Italian girl names that begin with ‘G’ have the soft, ‘J’-sounding version of this letter. But there are a few exceptions such as the names Gabriella, Grazia, and Gaetana.
It is very common for Italian female names to end with the letter ‘a’. In the list above, an exception to this pattern is the name Giusi. But it is a short form of Giuseppina (the Italian version of the French name Josephine) which does follow this pattern.
The majority of Italian boy names end with the letter ‘o’; some exceptions to this pattern in the list above include Giovanni and Gigi (a diminutive of the name Luigi), alongside Italian adaptations of several Hebrew-derived names like Giona (Jonah in English), Gioele (Italian for Joel), and Geremia (the Italian equivalent of Jeremiah).
Gian is a contraction of the name Giovanni that appears in many Italian compound names, such as the following:
| Name | Parts |
|---|---|
| Gianmarco | Gian, Marco |
| Gianfranco | Gian, Franco |
| Gianluigi | Gian, Luigi |
| Gianpiero | Gian, Piero |
| Giancarlo | Gian, Carlo |
| Gianpaolo | Gian, Paolo |
| Giandomenico | Gian, Domenico |
| Gianfrancesco | Gian, Francesco |
| Gianmario | Gian, Mario |
| Giangiacomo | Gian, Giacomo |
| Gianantonio | Gian, Antonio |
| Gianvito | Gian, Vito |
| Gianpietro | Gian, Pietro |
| Gianmatteo | Gian, Matteo |
| Gianandrea | Gian, Andrea |
| Gianguido | Gian, Guido |
| Gianbattista | Gian, Battista |
| Giannantonio | Gian, Antonio |
| Gianangelo | Gian, Angelo |
| Gianlorenzo | Gian, Lorenzo |
| Gianclaudio | Gian, Claudio |
| Giannicola | Gian, Nicola |
| Gianfelice | Gian, Felice |
Often, a name becomes more attractive when it’s associated with a famous person from history. As it turns out, several historical figures have Italian names that begin with ‘G’.
These include three opera composers (Giacomo Puccini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Gioachino Rossini), two well-known fashion designers (Gianni Versace and Giorgio Armani), and a Literature Nobel Prize-winning author (Grazia Deledda).
And, of course, the famous Renaissance astronomer, Galileo Galilei.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Grazia Deledda | Italian writer born in Sardinia who received the 1926 Literature Nobel Prize. |
| Galileo Galilei | Italian physicist and astronomer (1564–1642) |
| Guglielmo Marconi | Italian inventor and radio pioneer (1874–1937) |
| Gianni Versace | Italian fashion designer (1946–1997) |
| Giorgio Armani | Italian fashion designer |
| Giacomo Puccini | Italian opera composer (1858–1924) |
| Gioachino Rossini | Italian opera composer (1792–1868) |
| Gaetano Donizetti | Italian opera composer (1797–1848) |
| Giorgio Vasari | Italian Renaissance painter (1511–1574) |